Convertible folding play-yard



July 28, 1959 H. J. LANDRY 2,896,224

CONVERTIBLE FOLDING PLAY-YARD Filed NOV. 19, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 o o no l IITI'l-' |||||||I o e mhh ||||l||I o a n u'.

o o lNVENTOR HENRY J. LANDRY ATTORNEY July 28, 1959 H. J. LANDRY2,896,224

A CONVERTIBLE FOLDING PLAY-YARD Filed Nov. 19, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR HENRY J. LANDRY 5 7' n' ATTORNEY July 28, 1959 H. J. LANDRY2,896,224

CONVERTIBLE FOLDING PLAY-YARD Filed Nov. 19, 1956 Y 3 Sheets-Sheet I5 2625 :NVENTOR 28 25/ Y6 HENRY J. LANDRY ATTORNEY Unit@ r[his inventionrelates to a new and improved folding play-yard which is convertible todifferent shapes or outlines as to the door plan and railing or fencethereof, and in the particular case illustrated includes a constructionwhich may be Varied from a six-sided play-yard to a rectangularplay-yard without adding or subtracting parts thereto to make thechanges, as well as being foldable into a very small volume.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a six-sidedplay-yard which has a folding floor and is easily folded and stored in avery small space but wherein the outside wall of the 4play-yard whichconnes the infant is continuous and articulated so that it cannot -betaken apart and the floor is so made as to enable the folding thereofwithout the necessity of disrupting or disconnecting the wall in anyway.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of aconvertible play-yard which may assume either of two diiferent forms andyet which is easily foldable into compact shape for storage, wherein theconstruction is such that .the folded shape and volume of the play-yardis the same regardless of the extendedfor-use condition thereof; and theprovision of a playyard as above stated which is foldable in twodifferent ways but in which the shape and volume of the folded yard isthe same regardless of the way it is folded.

Still further objects of the invention reside in the provision of aconvertible folding play-yard which may include a six-sided iloor planand side walls and which is very sturdy and strong and including meanswhereby two pairs of opposite sides of the six-sided figure may berigidly secured together to provide a longer, narrower rectangularplay-yard.

It is to be understood that the play-yard of the present invention isprovided with upper and lower spaced horizontal rails in each side wallthereof, said rails being connected with the usual spindles in order toform a continuous walled piece of furniture and connected as will bedescribed below with oor parts which are folding in nature with respectto said side walls in order to provide a folding play-yard.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 isa plan view of the invention showing the same unfolded ready for use inone form, parts being broken away;

Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5 are enlarged sectional views on the respective linesin Fig. l; l

Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view of the play-pen as shown in Fig. l;

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the play-pen shown unfolded ready for use in adifferent form, parts being broken away;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view, looking in the direction of arrow 8, Fig.7;

States Patent O Fig. 9 is an enlarged section on the line 9-9 in Fig.

Figs. 10 and l1 are vertical sectional views through the play-penshowing the respective door units in folded condition;

Figs. 12 and 13 are plan views showing the play-pen folded in each oftwo different ways respectively; and

Figs. 14 and 15 are diagrammatic views illustrating two ways of foldingthe play-yard side walls.

Referring now to Fig. l, the play-pen of the present invention is shownas provided with six separate sides. One of these sides is indicatedgenerally at 10 and is provided at one end thereof with a miter at 12,there being provided outside hinges 14 at this corner for conf nectionto a similar but reversed or complementary side wall generally indicatedat 16. It will be seen that the miter at 12 and the hinges at 14 providethat the walls 10 and 16 may be folded inwardly but Vthey are preventedfrom folding any farther outwardly and are rmly located in the positionshown.

The opposite ends of both walls 10 and 16 are provided with square cutends 18 and 20 respectively. At these ends, the side walls are providedwith hinges 22 and 24 which are shown as flatly extended, and it will beappreciated that the hinges 24 allow walls 10 and 16 to swing inwardlybut not outwardly.

For convenience, the wall 25 may be referred to as the front wall of theplay-pen. This wall is provided with singularly-extended ends 26 and 28which conjoin with the square cut ends of the next adjacent side walls,one being indicated at 20 as to wall 16 and at 30 with respect to theside wall generally indicated at 32. Side wall 32 corresponds to but isopposite to side wall 16.

Side wall 32 is provided with hinges 34 connecting it to the in-turnedend 28 in the same manner that hinges 24 connect wall 16 to the end 26.Wall 32 is also provided with the hinges 36 which are similar to butreversed with respect to hinges 14, and this connects wall 32 to a wallgenerally indicated at 38 similar to but reversed with respect to wall10.

The opposite end of wall 38, which is square cut similarly to that at18, is provided with hinges 40 connecting the same to the inclined end42 ofthe rear wall generally indicated at 44, and the rear wall 44isprovided with the opposite inclined end 46 which is joined by hinge 22to the square cut end of the wall.

Hinged .to front wall 25, there is provided a square or rectangularfloor-piece indicated at 43, and wall 44 has a similar complementaryfloor-piece 50.` These floor-pieces are connected to their respectivewalls by the usual hinges indicated at 52.

Each floor part 48 and 50 is mitered at the corners adjacent theinclined end portions 26, 28, 42 and 46 in order to accommodate theseportions, it being noted that the width of the floor-pieces 48 and 50 isgreater than the width of the front and rear walls between the inclinedend portions, and substantially equals the length of the front and rearwalls between the ends of the 70 attached to the lower surfaces of thetriangular wing` members as clearly shown in Fig. 3.

One square or rectangular Hoor member 48 or S0, in this case shown asmember 48, is provided with an extension oorpiece indicated at 72 whichis hinged to the free end of door member 48 by conventional hinges 74.It is to be understood that the floor hinges described are locatedsubstantially underneath the oor elements and do not appear at the topof the floor. Also,the floor parts 48 and 50 are provided with flathooked members 76 and 78 respectively which are similar to those at 68and are received in apertures kS in the oor members 54 and S6. The sameis true as to the rectangular door member 50 as at 82. These hooks areco-planar with the oor members and also with the hook members 68 andthey have no function in the form of the invention shown in Fig. 1.

Appropriate stepped pivoting latches which are generally indicated at 84and 86 (see Figs. 2 and 5) are provided to hold the floor parts 72, 54,56, 58 and 60 in folded condition as shown in Figs. and 1-1. In Fig. 1l,it is to be noted that the floor parts 54 and 56, being in-folded andheld in place by their pivoting latches 84 (Fig. 7) also may holdin'place in folded position door part 72, merely by overlapping thesame.

Referring now to Fig. 1, the play-pen is shown in operative position butthe lioor part 72 is held by the pivoted latches 84 in un-used foldedcondition under its respective oor part 48. The play-pen is completelyextended and it is to be particularly noted that all of the floor partsare solidly supported in a horizontal plane.

In order to fold the play-pen, one main oor member such as 48 is pivotedupwardly about its hinges and the triangular floor members 54 and 56hinged thereto are in-folded and held by the respective pivoted latches84 as above described. These latches are used to hold the floor part 72folded at the same time, see Fig. 11.

The opposite iloor part 50 is then folded up and the triangular oorparts S8 and 60 are in-folded as described and shown in Fig. 10.Thereupon the side walls 32 and 38 may be swung in and brought adjacentto front wall 25, and side walls 10 and 16 are in-folded to overliefolded walls 32 and 38 as shown in Fig. l2.

It is to be emphasized, however, that this is not the only way that theplay-pen folds but as shown in Fig. 13, the combined walls 10 and 16 mayunderlie the walls 32 and 38 as shown in Fig. 13, see also Figs. 14 and15.

In any event, the important function derived from the construction ofthe folding play-pen above described resides in the fact that thesix-sided play-yard is foldable into a very small space which ismuchshorter than the length of the usual folding play-yard. It may befolded and placed in even a small closet which cannot be done with theusual play-yard. In addition, the folding playyard of the presentinvention is provided with continuous articulated side walls which donot need to be and cannot be disengaged in any respect whatsoever, andtherefore they provide a much safer play-yard. The occupant is unable todisengage one wall from another and thus escape, but is always safelyheld within the side walls even though the play-pen is completelyfoldable and is provided with a large area due to its shape.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. 7, the construction of theplay-pen here is exactly the same as above described` but illustrateshow it may be folded into an elongated rectangular play-yard having acompletely different shape from that shown in Figs. 1 and 6. In the formof the device as shown in Fig. 7, the play-yard has a lateral dimensionsmall enough to allow the same to be trundled through the ordinarydoorway and it is pointed out that neither the six-sided play-yard northe conventional square play-yard can be moved through a door whilestill maintaining the lioor in horizontal position.

In Fig. 7, the triangular floor parts 54 and 56 are infolded under therectangular'part 48 and are held in this position by the pivoted catches84. The floor part 72 is extended and is held horizontal by a pair oflugs 90 and a center post 92 which are attached to the under side of theoor part 50, supporting the free edge at 94 of the central extensionfloor part 72.

The triangular floor parts 58 and 60 are folded under oor part 50 andare held in this folded position by the pivoted latches 86.

The lioor parts 48 and 50 are rmly supported at their edges by means ofthe plates described above, and indicated at 76 and 78, and they rest onplates 66 (see Fig. 9) to hold the entire oor solidly in the extendedposition of Fig. 7.

There is also provided at each side of the play-yard a sliding latchgenerally indicated at 98 for the purpose of rigidly securing wallportions 10 to 16 and 32 to 38. This latch is best shown in Fig. 8wherein it is shown as of angle form, being provided with an elongatedside slot 100 guided by a headed fastener 102 in its sliding actionbetween positions wherein it is completely received on the respectivewalls 38 and 10; or selectively is moved into overlapping position withthe ends of walls 32 and 16 to rigidly secure the same together by meansof headed fasteners 104 working in top slots 106. Other guide slots 108may be utilized if desired in order to make the sliding action morepositive.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do notwish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than asset forth in the claims, but what I claim is:

1. A folding play-yard comprising a plurality of side wall sections anda plurality of floor parts pivotally associated with the respective sidewall sections, said floor parts being foldable against the side wallsections and said side wall sections being foldable in order to fold theentire play-yard, certain of said side wall sections being arranged inangular relation with respect to each other in one extended condition ofthe yard, releasable means to hold said certain side wall sections inaligned relation with the play-yard extended in a selected differentshape, said floor parts being movably associated with each other to forma oor for the play-yard in either selected playyard shape.

2. A folding play-yard comprising a plurality of articulated side wallsections and a plurality of folding door parts pivotally associated withthe respective side wall sections, said side wall sections beingfoldable to fold the entire play-yard, certain of said side wallsections being angularly arranged with respect to each other in oneextended condition of the yard, and releasable latch means to hold saidcertain side wall sections inv parallel, aligned extension of each otherwith the play-yard extended in a different selected shape as to the oorplan thereof, certain of said floor parts being swingable with respectto adjacent oor parts for conversion of the playyard floor from oneshape to the other.

3. A folding convertible play-yard comprising a plurality of articulatedside walls and a plurality of folding tloor parts pivotally associatedwith the respective side wall sections, certain of said side walls beingangularly arranged with respect to each other in one extended conditionof the yard, latches to hold said side walls in aligned extension ofeach other with the play-yard extended in a different shape as to thefloor plan thereof, certain different floor parts being swingable underadjacent oor parts in one form of the extended play-yard, and releasablemeans to hold the swung under oor parts in position.

4. A folding convertible play-yard comprising a series of articulatedside walls and a plurality of folding door parts pivotally associatedwith the respective side wall sections, said oor parts being extensibleto form selectively at least two separate and different shaped oorplans, the floor parts holding the side walls at angles to each other inone oor plan of the yard, and separate means holding certain of saidside walls in aligned extension in another floor plan, said floor partsforming the floor in both plans.

5. The play-yard of claim 4 wherein the one floor plan is six-sided andthe other floor plan is rectangular.

6. A folding convertible play-yard comprising a series of articulatedside walls and a plurality of folding floor parts, said floor partsbeing movably associated with respective side walls, said oor partsbeing extensible to form selectively at least two separate and diierentshaped oor plans, the floor parts holding certain of the side walls atangles to each other in one floor plan of the yard, and separate meansholding said certain side walls in aligned extension in another floorplan, the latter floor plan being generally rectangular, others of saidside Walls having end portions extending generally toward each other andthe certain side walls extendingvbetween and connected to the outermostend portions of said side wall ends.

7. A folding play-yard comprising a plurality of side walls and aplurality of folding oor parts, said floor parts being movablyassociated with respective side walls, a pair of said side walls locatedopposite each other, a xed, short angularly arranged extension at eachend of each of said opposite side walls, said extensions extending atangles toward the other side Wall of the pair, certain others of saidside walls being hingedly secured to the extensions of the first-namedpair of side walls in hinged relationship therewith, said side Wallscooperating to form selectively a rectangular or selectively hexagonalenclosure, and the ioor parts selectively aiding in maintaining the sidewalls in either position.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS AllingNov. 24, Freid Feb. 16, Eckert Jan. 31, Anderson Mar. 14, Biernat Oct.19, Feldman Feb. 12, Swanson Oct. 27, Schulz Aug. 23, Leibo Oct. 11,Landry Nov. 22, Peebles Feb. 19, Fournier Feb. 24, Pond Mar. 2, HattonJune 8, Carlson Sept. 14, Landry Aug. 14,

FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain France Oct. 1, Great Britain May 4,Germany Aug. 18,

